Container drums and barrels are commonly known and widely used, such as for shipping, storage, etc. They typically have a rigid cylindrical construction, such as steel, and come in a variety of sizes, such as for example 10 gallon to 55 gallon drums. Open headed drums include a top cover/lid which is cable of being secured to the upper rim of the drum using a drum clamping ring, also typically constructed from a high strength material, such as steel. One commonly used type of drum clamping ring is a bolt-type drum clamping ring shown at reference character 30 in FIGS. 3, 4, and 8 having an annular band 31 with a preferably arcuate cross-section, which terminates at a pair of adjacent clamping ends 32 and 33. As shown in FIG. 3, each clamping end 32, 33 is a lug or flange extending from the annular band 31 and having respective throughbores 34, 35. The throughbores are alignable with each other, preferably along an axis tangential to the annular band, for receiving a clamping bolt, such as 52 shown in FIG. 8. The clamping bolt 52, together with a nut 53, is used to draw the clamping ends 32, 33 together for constricting the annular band 31 and thereby securing the drum cover 36 on the drum 50. When removing the drum clamping ring from a drum, the clamping bolt is first released and removed from the throughbores of the clamping ends. As can be seen between FIGS. 8 and 9, the removal of the clamping bolt typically increases the gap width of the drum clamping ring, such as from 70 in FIG. 8, to 70′ in FIG. 9. However, the increase in gap width alone is typically insufficient to then enable removal of the clamping ring.
Therefore, once the clamping bolt is removed, mechanical assistance is typically required to manually remove the bolt-type drum clamping ring from the drum. One common practice has been to use an elongated bar, such as the long shank of a screwdriver, by inserting the bar through one of the throughbores and leveraging the bar to manipulate/control the clamping end. While this makeshift practice provides a crude solution for assisting in the removal or installation of a drum clamping ring, it has been known to be awkward and clumsy with an increased risk of injury to a user and damage to the clamping ring. Screwdriver shanks, for example, are typically much narrower than the throughbore diameters such as to produce play and cause slippage and possible injury to a user. There is therefore a need for a simple tool to assist in the removal and/or installation of bolt-type drum clamping rings on container drums and barrels safely and easily with little risk of injury to a user.